![Figure][1]</img>
A male budgerigar courts a female (through bill touching), while another male looks on.
PHOTO: ARCO IMAGES GMBH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
Being smart is a good thing, or so smart people like to think. Indeed, the possibility that...

When looking for mates, do females prefer smart males? It’s difficult to answer experimentally, but a new study in parrots hints that the answer is yes. However: the research design, while itself clever, might conflate smarts with strength.